Bicycle Hill Climb

Bicycle hill climb journeys are a joy to the keen athletes that cycle everywhere. For everyone else, they can seem a bit of a chore. Here’s some basic tips and techniques to help you gain momentum and climb hills easier:

1) As you are approach the hill, change to your higher gears and try and increase your speed as much as you can. You want to create as much momentum as you can before the angle increases too much.

2) As you near the foot of the hill, <>change down into a lower gear, but keep pedaling to maintain the same speed (don’t do this too early or you’ll tire easily, or too late because it’ll be harder to pedal!). You’ll experience far less resistence in the lower gear, but it’ll tire you out quickly. Alternatively, if you have an electric bike, simply engage the motor here by pushing your power button or twisting your throttle.

3) As you climb the hill, maintain your high speed of pedaling to keep up your speed. If you find your speed is slowing too much, don’t be afraid to stop and walk. Its safer. Electric bike users – if your speed begins to drop much beneath the top speed, you could start pedaling again to supplement the motor.

4) As you near the top of the hill, you won’t need to pedal so fast. Slowly change up to a higher gear again to pick up some speed, unless you're...

Cycling Down A Hill

1) Again, stay in a low gear. You’ll have far more control at the bottom of the hill. As the hill flattens out and your speed slowly begins to drop, you’re pedaling will become effective again. It’s much better (and safer) in this situation to be in a lower gear.

2) Use your brakes sparingly. It isn’t sensible to try and brake hard when you’re travelling fast downhill. If you do a lot of cycling on hills or fast cycling, it’s best to have disk brakes (more similar to cars) since they’re much more effective than other bike brakes which simply grip the wheel.

3) Don’t brake with the front wheel at speed! It’s a one-way ticket to the dentist!

Disc brakes tend to be quite common onmountain bikeswhere they're needed to rapidly slow a bike descending down a hillside.

Still Can't Cycle Up and Down a Hill?

There may still be a variety of problems trying to cycle, like your home is on a hill and you can’t get the momentum to get going, or you lack the strength or endurance - then why not consider an electric bike?

You can power up a hill at the push of a button, or twist of the throttle. It’s affordable, its fast and it still has all the benefits of cycling. Find out even morebenefits of electric bikes.